


An American History Primer

by DJClawson



Series: Theodore Nelson's Adventures in Sharing a Workspace [8]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: A cat who is bad at showing her affection, Customers Suck, Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, M/M, Matt Murdock is a creep, Multi, the least explicit orgy ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 18:48:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17330447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJClawson/pseuds/DJClawson
Summary: Theo meets the Defenders, and then re-meets one of them.





	An American History Primer

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Pogopop for her beta work!

Theo was happier than he could remember being in a long time.

He had the stress of running his own business and paying down a massive loan, with one late payment possibly leading to jail time. He had two lawyers and one legal assistant crammed into the back room and slowly attempting to annex other parts of the shop, turning him into the sometimes-receptionist despite the many signs up pointing clients in the right direction. Theo was alone most nights with a cat he was pretty sure was intentionally kicking her litter box sand into the bathtub somehow because his would-be boyfriend was facing off against mobsters and drug dealers with nothing more than his fists, and he was also pretty sure Foggy was giving clients candy from the stock.

But he was happy. He had a boyfriend - sort of - and he wasn’t hiding that fact from everyone that he knew, even if he also wasn’t announcing the identity of that boyfriend all over social media. He even shut his tumblr down now that he knew his parents were following it, but he didn’t have to be worried about any major revelations because of his internet use, because they knew about the big one and they were _okay with it_ (though really, his mom needed to calm down about asking him if he was seeing someone). He was out and had people who loved him and he was a small business owner and things looked like they might not fall apart at every moment.

So when strange people showed up to the store after hours, Theo just rolled with it.

“We’re closed,” he said to the short woman who managed to open the front door anyway.

“You sell booze?” she shouted from the front.

He gestured with his pen. “Bar next to us.”

“I know; they just threw me out, the jerks,” she said. “Where’s Nelson?”

He had already guessed she was a client; clients came by when the store was shuttered. “Foggy’s in the back. There’s signs.”

“I can read,” she said with a sneer, not having introduced herself. “And I see you’ve got a bottle of Jameson back there.”

“It’s not for sale.”

“Should be,” she said, and disappeared into the back. Theo didn’t get an apology, and didn’t expect one. Not from her, anyway.

When he came back to work in the morning, the whiskey was gone. Foggy came in late but brought muffins. And a new bottle. But he didn’t try to explain her actions.

Theo was doing payroll when a guy in a very expensive suit and bright orange sneakers came in. “Hi, I’m Danny Rand.”

Not knowing what else to say, and not in the mood to play secretary, Theo said, “I’m Theo Nelson.”

Clearly, this guy expected him to recognize him. Theo did not pretend to. After an awkward silence on rich guy’s end, he added, “I’m looking for Matt.”

Theo pointed to the sign that said “NELSON AND MURDOCK THIS WAY.”

“Oh,” Rand said, as if it just occurred to him that he could read. “And, uh, Jessica said to give you this.”

He put a bottle of Opus 1 on the counter. Theo didn’t usually drink wine, but Jesus Christ. “Really?”

“She just said something about stealing your alcohol. Is this alcoholic enough?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s great,” Theo said, grabbing it. He’d never held a bottle that expensive in his hands before. “Very nice choice.”

“She also says she broke a window in the back.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice.” Maybe Foggy had replaced it without saying anything.

Rand pulled out a black card and tapped it on the counter. “Charge it.”

“I have to look up - “

“I trust you.”

Theo took the card, but didn’t swipe it. “And how do you know Jessica?”

“She breaks things and I pay for them.” But he didn’t sound the least bit annoyed with the arrangement. He was staring at the various animal parts drying out above him. “Do you sell yak meat?”

“I can try to order it in,” Theo said. “I’ve never cooked it, though. I’ve just done buffalo. It’s like beef but gamier. And I’d have to charge you for the whole yak. I don’t think I could sell the rest of it here.”

“Just give it your best. And put it on the card.”

“Danny,” Matt said, appearing at the door to the backroom in the silent way he usually moved. “Uh, Theo, Danny’s going to be paying rent on Nelson and Murdock’s behalf this month.”

“I am?” Danny looked at Matt, then back at Theo. “I am.”

“He knows why,” Matt hastily added.

“Oh _right_ ,” Danny said. “Yeah, I know.”

Theo thought about telling Danny to get new friends, but thought the better of it.

So by the time Luke Cage came in, Theo was not surprised. And Luke was downright polite, knocking on the front door and waiting for Theo to come and unlock it.

“Sorry, I know it’s late, but I’m looking for Murdock,” Luke said. “He said he’d be here.”

“Yeah, he’s in the back,” Theo said, and returned to his spot behind the counter to finish checking the front case. Luke walked past him, then stopped, and Theo knew he was trying to place him. “Um, we met on an app,” Theo said.

“Oh right,” Luke said, and just like Theo remembered, he was very calm and collected. “Ted?”

“That’s what I was going by, but it’s Theo. Theo Nelson. Foggy’s my brother.” He did not mention that Foggy wasn’t back there; people looking for Matt specifically were often not looking for legal services.

“Your brother is a smart man. Really saved my ass in Georgia,” Luke said. “How are you doing?”

“Good. Seeing someone, running the shop myself now. You?”

“Finally got a decent place,” Luke said. “Inherited a club in Harlem. Jazz, R&B, that sort of thing.”

“Sounds nice.”

“If you ever want to be on the list, just let me know,” Luke said. He held out his hand, and they bumped fists, which was like fistbumping a concrete wall, but softer.

Matt and Luke left through the side door - something they were supposed to do when the shop was closed anyway - and Theo didn’t think anything else about it. He closed up, went home, and was sound asleep when his phone rang. Being a small business owner also meant he always had to pick up his phone, and Sadie hissed at him as he almost knocked her over reaching for it. “Yeah?”

“Me and Luke,” Matt said, sounded winded. “What do you think?”

He stroked Sadie to get her to stop whining at him about being dethroned from his head. “What do you mean?”

“I’m too wound up to go back to sleep, so ... the three of us? What do you think?”

Again, he could not figure this out. “Start over.”

“You’re into Luke. He’s into it. So I’m into it. But it’s your call.”

At which point Theo sat straight the fuck up. “What the fuck did you say to him?”

“Nothing. I can just tell. I could tell you how I can tell, but I’d rather not. It’s kind of ... personal.”

“But - just to be completely clear - you can sense that if you proposed a three-way right now, he would say yes?”

“Almost definitely.”

Matt was right - Theo didn’t want to know how he knew. There were a whole bunch of things he needed to know right now, but didn’t want to ask about.

And life was so G-ddamn short. “My bed’s not big enough.”

“Mine is.”

“And - you’re cool with this?”

Matt was definitely smiling. “Do you think I would have called if I wasn’t?”

Fuck, was all Theo could think - how dressed did he need to be to go five blocks in the middle of the night?

 

 

“Fuck, guys, we have to stop or I might die,” Theo said.

It was good that he had brought his vaporizer because Matt needed to calm the fuck down, just in general for the evening, even though he was being pretty chill about the fact that they had just moved to the couch because Luke had _broken his bed_ and Theo was lying on the floor, wrapped in a blanket because Matt’s apartment was always heated for shit, because he couldn’t sit up.

Luke, calm but not emotionless, passed on the weed, and it occured to Theo that Luke was an ex-cop, so that was probably the reason.

“If Theo needs to tap out, we could call Danny,” Matt said, clearly pleased with himself.

“No,” Luke said more firmly that he had said anything that night.

“You can’t hide things from me. You would do it and Danny wouldn’t say no.”

“Which is why I won’t do it,” Luke said with his very ‘why am I the adult in the room’ air of authority.

“What’s wrong with Danny?” Theo said, his brain a little too busted to remember who Danny was at the moment.

“He’s been through a lot,” Luke said. “Had a weird childhood. Still figuring himself out. I don’t want to be his starter boyfriend.”

“What’s a starter boyfriend?” Matt said, which was adorable because he really seemed to not know.

“Your starter boyfriend is when you date a guy who’s _way_ more mature and experienced than you,” Theo said helpfully as he took another puff and held out the pen for Matt to take back. “Which is a nice thing to do for the person, but not really a fun thing to be.”

“Yeah, if you weren’t all about loving ‘em and leaving ‘em you’d know that,” Luke said. “You better not do that to Ted. He’s a nice guy.”

“Who the fuck is Ted?”

“No one knows their American history anymore!” Theo shouted.

Matt took a very long drag and said, “For the first six months that I knew you, I thought you were named after the chipmunk.”

“Where did you think ‘Franklin’ came from?”

“I didn’t know Foggy was named Franklin,” Matt admitted. “I should have picked up on it from your mom but I met 10,000 relatives that Thanksgiving, so I must have just missed it.”

“Ugh, my parents are such dorks!” Theo lamended. “And why did I have to be the fat Roosevelt?”

“Theodore Roosevelt was fat?” Matt sometimes acted like he had never had sight. Or maybe he just didn’t care about American history when he was eight.

"He was so fat he got stuck in a bathtub."

“That was Taft,” Luke said. “And some of us do know our American history, but mostly because we had nothing to do in prison but read. At least the second time around.”

Luke eventually decided they all needed to shower. Theo complained that he was too tired to move, so Luke carried him. Matt was strong, and could probably carry him as well, but not like Luke Cage could carry a person. Luke was all muscle bursting out of his clothes and felt like he was made of smooth stones. Matt was a mellow guy during sex but Luke was positively zen, and he wasn’t covered in worrying scars and bruises. He wasn’t as good a kisser, but Theo didn’t say that - just enough of his filters were still in place and after another round in the shower he was too tired to say much of anything. He usually didn’t want to sleep with wet hair but he lay down on Matt’s couch anyway, wondering where the hell Matt and Luke got all of their stamina, because based on Matt’s new bruises they had not been engaged in legal discussion before inviting him over. Or Matt inviting Luke over after talking to Theo. He wasn’t sure the order of things.

“I guess you have to break the record,” Matt said to Luke.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re great, but I’m with Theo,” Matt said. “And the two of you are both two out of four for the Defenders, right?”

“Depends on who you’re counting in the Defenders.”

“You, me, Danny, and Jess.”

“You knew about Jess?”

Matt nodded. He didn’t say how.

“You’re a creep, Murdock.”

“I’m just observant.”

“I don’t think you’re being fair to some of the other people at Midland Circle, leaving them out like that.”

“You’re saying you would be way ahead?”

Luke folded his arms. “I’m a gentleman. I’m not saying anything. I just think that they were part of fighting the Hand and they should be included.”

“I’ll consider it.”

“I don’t think it’s your decision,” Luke said, firmly but fairly. “Theo - who do you think should be a Defender?”

“I have no fucking idea what you guys are ever talking about,” Theo mumbled. “I just know I have a type and apparently it’s crime fighters with complicated interpersonal relationships.”

“You be good to him,” Luke said to Matt. “I know your weak spots.”

“Like what?”

“In case you didn’t notice, all you people are basically walking weak spots to me.”

Maybe it was weird for a threat to warm Theo’s heart, but that was just his life now, and his life was pretty great.

The End


End file.
